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It used to be that women athletes were exceptions.
In order to exist at all they had to prove they were good enough to be the one woman who could train with the men. They had to sue for opportunities to play. They had to practice in old jerseys and in run-down gyms. They had to work full-time jobs on top of their full-time jobs to pay for the sport that defined them. They had to let the jokes about their bodies and their talent on sitcoms and Saturday Night Live and in school hallways roll off their backs. They had to sneak into men’s only races, or start their own sports leagues, or file lawsuits against federations that paid them less just because of their gender.
But none of the powerhouse athletes in this issue knew a time when women’s sports were nonexistent, or against the rules, or banned altogether. Title IX and the Battle of the Sexes were ancient history by the time they were all joining their first toddler gym classes. Serena and Venus Williams were already household names and the ’99ers had proven that women’s soccer could pack stadiums and make Sports Illustrated covers in time for these girls to hang their posters on their childhood bedroom walls.
Today, all of those exceptions have made way for a generation of women athletes to come pouring through that shattered glass ceiling—and these women are pushing the sports world, and culture in general, forward with abandon.
Just having women athletes to look up to was enough for some of these women to pursue sports themselves. When Suni Lee was 6, she watched clips of the 2008 U.S. Olympic gymnastics team endlessly, then tried to mimic the moves she saw at home. “I started breaking stuff and doing flips on the bed, and finally my mom got sick of it and just put me in gymnastics,” says Lee. Today she has six Olympic medals, including an all-around gold in Tokyo.
Suni Lee was photographed by Ben Horton at The Boca Raton. Swimsuit by OYE Swimwear. Swimsuit embroidered by Abbode. / Ben Horton/Sports Illustrated
Those same ’08 Games are a vivid memory for heptathlete Anna Hall. Since her dad coached track and field, Hall and her sisters gathered around excitedly to watch every event. They saw a young Allyson Felix shine, but another moment caught her attention, too: when Lolo Jones, the favorite for the 100-meter hurdles, clipped a hurdle and lost her lead, missing out on the podium altogether. “I think seeing everyone’s reaction to something bad happening at the Olympics made me realize how big it was,” Hall says.
And that bigness called to her. “That was when I was first like, O.K., this is what I want to do. I’m gonna go there. It just felt really important.” She was only 7 at the time, but this past summer, at 23, Hall made that dream come true in Paris, representing Team USA in the heptathlon.
When Jordan Chiles was first starting in gymnastics, she idolized Shawn Johnson and was told she could be the next Gabby Douglas. Before long, she was competing alongside some of her idols. “I was the youngest national team member, so I was able to see the dedication and passion they brought to the sport,” Chiles says. She has been embraced by the older generation and pushed the new generation forward, as a two-time Olympic medalist with a flair for tattoos and pop music. Her collegiate floor routines have become consistently viral videos, and in March she was named one of Time’s Women of the Year.
Ali Truwit was photographed by Ben Horton at The Boca Raton. Swimsuit by HAUS OF PINKLEMONAID. / Ben Horton/Sports Illustrated
While earlier generations of women athletes often had to hide their love for sports or their burgeoning athleticism because even their own families would call it unladylike, Gen Z athletes were often raised by parents who wanted to enjoy sports with their kids. Freestyle skier Eileen Gu’s mom first put her in ski school at Lake Tahoe when she was 3. “Mom really loved to ski, so she would drive four hours away to Tahoe,” says Gu. “And I’m an only child, so she thought ski school was better than babysitting, because I got to be athletic and socialize with other kids.” Her mom gets to ski a lot more now, because she accompanies Gu, 21, around the world while she competes. This year, Gu, who has two Olympic gold medals, added to her haul by capturing her 18th World Cup event, making her the winningest free skier ever—woman or man.
Eileen Gu was photographed by Ben Horton at The Boca Raton. Swimsuit by MBM Swim. / Ben Horton/Sports Illustrated
Cameron Brink, the No. 2 pick in the 2024 WNBA draft, knew basketball was a possible career path long before she started playing at age 12. Brink’s mother worked at Nike, bringing in the first era of female basketball players to the brand. “You can feel a shift, when you have those women to look up to,” says the Los Angeles Sparks forward. “Playing basketball for a living is a huge privilege, but none of this would have happened without the women before us.”
As the children of two professional tennis players, Nelly Korda and her two older siblings were encouraged to be athletic. “I started playing sports when I started walking, it’s just always something I’ve done. But our parents didn’t want us to feel like we had to play tennis, they wanted us to find what we were passionate about,” Korda says. It was her older sister Jessica’s interest in golf that got Korda and the rest of the family on the green. “Golf was a game we could all do together. You can be chill and have fun, and then if you are serious it can be intense,” she says. Soon enough, Korda followed in her sister’s footsteps and took golf very seriously, joining the LPGA tour at age 18. Today, she’s the top-ranked women’s golfer in the world.
Caroline Marks was photographed by Ben Horton at The Boca Raton. Swimsuit by It’s Now Cool. / Ben Horton/Sports Illustrated
Becoming an elite athlete wasn’t on Gabby Thomas’s radar as a child. But she was encouraged by her mom to try any sport she wanted: horseback riding, basketball, tennis, gymnastics and soccer. “Sports became a strong part of my identity and shaped who I am,” Thomas says. Ultimately her speed got her a scholarship to Harvard, and ultimately a professional and Olympic career.
Raised in Florida, Caroline Marks was most comfortable in the ocean. She also loved to hang out with her older brothers. So when they learned to surf, she followed. She won her first big trophy at an amateur competition in California. “I just remember getting this big trophy and thinking, This is the best thing ever. I just did what I love to do the most and regardless of where this is going to go, I just never want to stop doing this. Surfing is gonna be a part of my life forever,” she says. So far, the 2024 Olympic gold medalist has continued to find that joy and success on the waves.
Ali Truwit grew up in the water, too. But for her, it was a pool in Connecticut. She was a swim team kid who was constantly surrounded by competitive swimmers, some of whom would become Olympians. “I would always use them as inspiration,” Truwit says. The joy she felt in the water is what kept her training, which ultimately secured her a spot on Yale’s swim team. Just days after her college graduation, though, a shark attacked her and a friend while they were snorkeling and Truwit became a lower-leg amputee. But the empowerment and joy she’d found in the pool helped her embrace her body. “There were all these unknowns about what life without a limb is like, but swimming was such a valuable tool for me, because it was something that I could reclaim,” she says. Just a year after her accident Truwit was competing at the highest level—winning two medals at the 2024 Paralympics.
Gabby Thomas was photographed by Ben Horton at The Boca Raton. Swimsuit by GIGI C. / Ben Horton/Sports Illustrated
When Toni Breidinger was a kid in northern California, she tried gymnastics, piano and a bunch of other activities, but nothing really stuck. When her dad saw a billboard on the side of the road in Sonoma advertising a racetrack, he thought he would take Toni and her twin sister, Annie, to try a go-kart class. She was immediately hooked. They raced go-karts until Toni was 15, when she started to get opportunities to try out race cars. The thrill of driving, and winning, kept her moving up through the sport. Today, Breidinger holds the record for the most top-10 finishes in any NASCAR circuit by a woman, with 27.
The women athletes coming up today are fully cognizant of how far the sports world has come, and how far there still is to go toward gender equality.
In the traditionally male-dominated world of professional surfing, Marks got to compete in the first event to offer equal prize money for the men’s and women’s winners, at the 2019 Boost Mobile Pro in Australia. “I used to go out and there used to be hardly any girls just surfing, but now it’s like just as many girls are out there as guys,” she says.
Anna Hall was photographed by Ben Horton at The Boca Raton. Swimsuit by Andi Bagus. / Ben Horton/Sports Illustrated
The same thing is happening in other sports, as women’s purses catch up to men’s. But these athletes are anything but content, and it’s about more than money. Korda wants to see women’s golf on prime-time TV. Breidinger is hosting events for girls to get more women drivers to join her in NASCAR—she’s the only one in the Craftsman Truck Series this year, out of 35 drivers. And Truwit hopes the representation for amputee athletes increases with the explosion in coverage of women athletes in general. “The more you see people with differences doing these amazing things, the more you can see yourself in those places, too,” she says. “There’s still so much room to grow.”
Toni Breidinger was photographed by Ben Horton at The Boca Raton. Swimsuit by Andi Bagus. / Ben Horton/Sports Illustrated
Last June, Brink tore her ACL, ending her rookie season early. But undergoing surgery and doing rehab for the better part of a year gave her time to think about the WNBA in a big-picture way. “None of this would have happened without Sheryl Swoopes and all those women who came before. My rookie class, we say the same thing: We want the girls after us to have it even better,” says Brink.
How? Brink has her eye on salary increases and better benefits. And since endorsements are where most players make significant money, she hopes more diverse players get the kind of recognition she and her peers have. “Where are the endorsements for [the vets]?” says Brink. “Especially my teammates that are Black, that are gay, that use they/them pronouns. There’s a privilege that some of the rookies have in being younger and coming in at a good time, and a privilege of looking a certain way. There are women in the league that deserve more recognition, it’s just that simple: They deserve more.”
Jordan Chiles was photographed by Ben Horton at The Boca Raton. Swimsuit by I.AM.GIA. / Ben Horton/Sports Illustrated
Women athletes dominated headlines and medal podiums last summer in Paris, a trend that has been brewing for the past several Olympics. In 2024, women made up 50% of the athletes at the Games for the first time in history. But the gymnasts and track stars there, who usually get their moment on a Wheaties box once every four years, also started to notice a more sustained interest than before.
Cameron Brink was photographed by Ben Horton at The Boca Raton. Swimsuit by Tinye Swim. / Ben Horton/Sports Illustrated
Thomas, who was featured heavily in Netflix’s docuseries Sprint in the lead-up to the Games and then went on to win three gold medals in Paris, sees this momentum as fuel (a public health professional, she also works part-time at a volunteer health clinic in Austin, Texas, where she trains). “It’s so helpful and motivating for me to be in an era of sport like this, where women have so much purpose and we’re fighting for so much more than just what’s on the field or the track,” Thomas says. “It’s about making a difference to increase access and equity in our sport. That’s such a great moment to be part of.”
Lee and Chiles embody the change in what it means to be a gymnast today. When Lee was first starting out, she was shocked by how serious competitions were. Strict, abusive coaching styles were all too common, and the athletes were forced into harmfully rigid ideas about their bodies and how they should look. Few gymnasts had careers once they went through puberty. “Being a gymnast in a lot of people’s eyes was a white girl with a ponytail and I didn’t look like any of them,” says Chiles.
Nelly Korda was photographed by Ben Horton at The Boca Raton. Swimsuit by Laquan Smith. / Ben Horton/Sports Illustrated
In the past decade, however, national team members have bravely spoken out about the abusive coaching and environments they experienced, and the U.S. team has gotten older, stronger, healthier and more competitive. “I’m definitely stronger now than I was when I was younger,” Chiles says. “And I’ve accepted the fact it’s O.K. to be older in this sport.” Fans certainly have embraced that. At the Paris Games Lee says she felt like a rock star. “It was just the best feeling in the world to see that people actually cared about it,” she says.
The freedom, joy, and support enjoyed by today’s U.S. gymnasts has undeniably made the sport more fun to watch, and Lee wants that for all women athletes. “I feel like right now women are dominating in sports,” she says. “It’s such an amazing thing to see and it’s so exciting to watch. I feel like it can only get better from here.”
IRVINE, Calif. – The University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball team swept the Big West Weekly Awards after its two-match sweep of NJIT over the weekend in Honolulu.
Opposite Kristian Titriyski was named Offensive Player of the Week, setter Tread Rosenthal earned both Defensive Player of the Week and Setter of the Week, and setter Magnus Hettervik was Freshman of the Week.
For Titriyski the award marked his third career offensive recognition and seventh time he was honored by the conference with a weekly award. Rosenthal has now compiled 13 career weekly awards including his sixth setter award and first defensive honor.
Titriyski, a sophomore from Sofia, Bulgaria, averaged 3.83 kills per set and 5.17 points per set and hit .439 in the series. He was the only player on either team to record double digit kills in the two matches and also had a team-best five service aces.
Rosenthal, a junior from Austin, Texas, led the team with 11 blocks in the series for an average of 1.83 blocks per set and directed an offense to a combined .517 hitting percentage in the series with only 11 attack errors in 118 attempts. In Friday’s season-opener, he tied his career-high with eight blocks in a straight-set win.
Hettervik, a freshman from Stavanger, Norway, made his UH debut in the team’s win on Sunday and recorded three assists and his first career ace in the second set.
The Warriors will host No. 7 Loyola Chicago this week in a two-match series, Thursday, Jan. 8 and Friday, Jan. 9 at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
The TSWA has announced its selections for the volleyball all-state team for all five classes in the state. Clarksville High senior Keira Garinger earned a selection for her play throughout the 2025 season.
CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The Tennessee Sports Writers Association (TSWA) has announced its selections for the volleyball all-state team for all five classes in the state. Clarksville High senior Keira Garinger earned a selection on the class 3A team for her play throughout the 2025 season.
Garinger was the driving force behind the best season in Clarksville High’s history, earning their first state tournament appearance, while finishing third place in the state. She finished this year with 489 kills, 67 aces, 48 blocks, 475 digs and she was selected as the district 13-4A MVP.
Garinger made a major impact on the program as a whole, compiling a record of 137-22 over her career and winning four district and region titles. Garinger will be taking her talents to Arkansas State in the fall to continue her volleyball career.
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14th Annual Youngstown State University College Indoor Track & Field Mid Major Meet Presented by Southwoods Health
Friday, January 30 and Saturday, January 31
Meet: Open NCAA sanctioned Indoor Track & Field Competition
Timing: Fully automatic FinishLynx system
Location: The Watson and Tressel Training Site (WATTS) on the YSU campus. The WATTS features a full-length Shaw Sportexe Power Blade HP+ synthetic turf system football field, a 300-meter state-of-the-art mondo track surface, two long-jump pits, a high-jump pit, four batting cages, protective netting, a training room and locker rooms.
GPS address: 651 Elm St. | Youngstown, OH 44555
Entry’s: Entry’s are due by Tuesday, January 27 by 7 p.m., consisting of event entries with best marks from the previous year or realistic projected marks. All entries will be done on-line at www.directathletics.com.
Please visit the Direct Athletics website at your earliest convenience in order to familiarize yourself with how the entry process works.
Also, please limit Eight athletes per event. If you have an event with more than eight quality athletes, please text Brian Gorby at (330) 519-7591 to get permission to email additional entries to bdgorby@ysu.edu.
We always try to help to accommodate all entry’s.
**Note: Please check YSUsports.com after the entry deadline for changes or adjustments to the meet time schedule!
Please check to make sure your athletes are entered correctly. If there are mistakes or scratches, please email bdgorby@ysu.edu & ysutrackmeets@gmail.com.
Entry Fees: $ 500
per each team, men or women separate, consisting of 10 or more individuals in unlimited events are paid online, when you complete Entry’s on Direct Athletics or $25 per individual event entry & paid online at Direct Athletics as well.
ENTRY FEES
$ 25 per ENTRY (i.e. 2 events entered would be $ 50 ) Entry fees must be paid in advance online when you enter on DirectAthletics (all major credit and debit cards accepted).
Relay Entry’s $ 7 per runner for a total of $ 28 per relay team.
Refund Policy
We understand that these are uncertain times. As such, please rest assured that any entry fees (and processing fees) paid on DirectAthletics are 100% refundable in the unlikely event we have to cancel a meet. However, outside of meet cancellation, there is a strict NO REFUND policy on entry fees. Absolutely no refunds will be processed due to scratches, change of plans, inability to travel, illness, injuries, etc. No day of Meet Entry.
Spikes: ONLY 1/4 inch or shorter pyramid spikes will be allowed and all spikes will be checked prior to events. NO pin or needle spikes, spike elements, or any other type of spike will be allowed.
High Jump: All high jump competitions will be conducted on the Mondo surface.
Sections/Heats/Flights: Flights will be seeded by distance with best marks in the latest sections/flights. Finals in field events will consist of the top nine marks from the qualifying rounds.
Implement Weigh-In: 30 minutes prior to event at the Throws area.
January 30, 2026 | YSU Mid-Major National Collegiate Meet
The Spartan Club, comprised of Case Institute of Technology (CIT), Western Reserve University (WRU) and Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) alumni, parents of current students, faculty and staff, and friends of the University, is aimed at helping foster and honor the proud tradition of athletics at the University, while also supporting the current student-athletes. For more information on the Spartan Club, and to help support its purpose by becoming a member, CLICK HERE.
Case Western Reserve University senior Anand Dharmarajan, a guard on the men’s basketball team, and junior Mya Hartjes, a guard on the women’s basketball team, have been named the Spartan Club Athletes of the Week for their performances this past week.
Dharmarajan had a career day during the team’s 97-80 win over Kalamazoo. He scored a career-high 30 points over 29 minutes of action during the game, making 10-of-16 shots overall and seven-of-12 from three-point range. The seven three-pointers matched his career-best mark and were just one shy of the program’s single-game record. He added three rebounds and a steal in the effort. Dharmarajan is averaging 11.4 points per game this season on 46.8% shooting overall, including 45.3% from long range, and has added 1.7 rebounds and 1.0 assists per contest. The Spartans stand at 7-3 overall this season and have won four consecutive games.
The Spartans will close out their non-conference schedule on the road against La Roche College in Pittsburgh on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
Hartjes led the Spartans to two wins in three games over winter break. Hartjes led all CWRU players with 19.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game during the three contests, shooting 53.7% (22-of-41) overall, 52.0% (13-of-25) from three-point range, and converting both of her free throw attempts. She added five assists, a block, and two steals during the stretch. In a 68-55 win over Oberlin on December 29, she scored a career-best 25 points, making nine-of-15 shots overall and hitting a career-best seven threes on 10 tries, while contributing nine rebounds, an assist, a block, and a steal. She followed that by leading the team with 16 points in a 76-52 loss to 23rd-ranked Baldwin Wallace on December 30, making six-of-12 shots overall, including four-of-seven from three-point range, while collecting five rebounds and an assist. For her efforts over the two games, she was named to the All-Tournament Team at the BW Holiday Classic. Rounding out her week, Hartjes scored 18 points in a 75-65 win against Geneva on January 3, hitting seven-of-14 shots overall, two-of-eight from three-point range, and both of her free throw attempts, while adding a team-best eight rebounds with three assists and a steal. Hartjes has averaged 16.3 points and a team-high 7.2 rebounds per game this season with 3.5 assists per contest. The Spartans ended their non-conference schedule with a 7-4 record.
With its non-conference schedule complete, the Spartans will now turn their attention to their University Athletic Association slate. CWRU will begin its 14-game conference journey on Saturday at 3 p.m. on the road against Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
The Spartan Club Athletes of the Week are selected by the CWRU Department of Athletics each Monday, based on their performance during the previous week of competition.
Honorable Mentions:
Senior Art Martinez (wrestling) went 6-0 over the last two weeks, including a win over the then top-ranked wrestler in Division III, to lead the 21st-ranked Spartans to six dual wins over the holiday break. On December 20 at the Chocolate Duals in Grantham, Pennsylvania, Martinez defeated opponents from Ithaca, Messiah, and Arcadia. He started the day with a 21-4 technical fall over George McAteer of Ithaca and followed with a 22-4 technical fall over Tyler Ratledge of Messiah. In the final match of the day, Martinez delivered a decisive 18-4 major decision over Jacob Blair of Arcadia who was ranked first in Division III at the time of the dual. It marked Martinez’s first win over a nationally ranked opponent this season. CWRU won all three matches at the duals, defeating Ithaca 30-17, Messiah 23-20, and Arcadia 31-16. On January 3 at the UAA Challenge hosted by NYU, Martinez and the Spartans continued their winning streaks, defeating all three opponents at the annual event. Martinez earned bonus points in all three of his bouts, secured two technical falls and one pin at the event. This season, he is 20-1, including a 13-0 mark against Division III opponents, with six pins and a team-leading eight technical falls. CWRU improved to 8-2 in dual matches.
The Spartans return home for the Claude Sharer Duals on Saturday hosting Manchester University and the University of Mount Union at the Veale Center.
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. | The Skyline Conference released its first winter weekly reports of the 2026 calendar year Monday, and Farmingdale State College junior Mia Simmons (Queens, N.Y.) was selected as its Women’s Basketball Player of the Week while freshman center Allison Ntambwe (Queens Village, N.Y.) earned honorable mention praise.
Farmingdale State opened the calendar year in non-conference play Saturday at Hunter College, falling by a 79-61 score to the Hawks. Simmons poured in a career-high 21 points to lead the Rams, while Ntambwe came off the bench to score a career-high 10 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Senior point guard Shyann Parker (Floral Park, N.Y.) recorded a double-double, pulling down 11 rebounds while dishing out a career-high 10 assists.
The Rams travel to NYU’s Paulson Center Tuesday night for a Skyline Conference game versus Yeshiva at 8, before welcoming Lasell (Mass.) University for a 6 p.m. tip-off on Thursday.
FSC resumed Skyline play Saturday with a 92-60 triumph over St. Joseph’s-Brooklyn on the team’s annual CYO Day. Five Rams scored in double figures against the Bears, including senior guard Michael Notias (Manhasset, N.Y.), who led all players with 15 points (6-of-11 FG, 3-of-5 3FG), five assists and three steals, while junior forward Kentrell Evans (Brooklyn, N.Y.) registered a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
The Rams will welcome conference foe St. Joseph’s-Long Island for a 7 p.m. tip-off on Wednesday night, before traveling Saturday for a noontime Skyline tilt at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.
Indoor Track and Field
Farmingdale State returns to action on Friday, January 9, when it travels to the Ocean Breeze complex in Staten Island, N.Y., for the St. Thomas Aquinas Spartan Invitational at noon.
The Wisconsin Badgers and Kelly Sheffield had a pretty big exodus this season after their Final Four run. While none of them were surprising in a vacuum, as a whole, it was hard to watch six players for the present and the future decide it was time to get more guaranteed playing time elsewhere.
Many Wisconsin Badger fans hoped one or two, or even a few, would opt to leave the portal after entering it and return to Wisconsin; however, all six outgoing transfers have landed at new homes. Here’s where:
Una Vajagic and Tosia Serafinowska transferred to Arizona State
Maybe the biggest surprise was Una Vajagic transferring, as she clearly had a starter role last season and developed into an impressive outside hitter. However, she wasn’t going to be guaranteed the same minutes next season with other outside hitters coming in to compete for her job. That may have been what sent her looking for a new opportunity. She and the other international player on the team, Tosia Serafinowska, both decided to go to Arizona State.
Addy Horner transferred to TCU
Horner became a starter when star setter Charlie Fuerbringer went down with an injury. However, as soon as Fuerbringer was healthy, Horner went back to the bench. She proved she can be a starter and a pretty good one at that, but she didn’t have a shot of overtaking Fuerbringer’s spot, so it made sense for her to transfer. She has since gone to TCU.
Maile Chan has transferred to Florida State with Aniya Warren going to Oklahoma
Chan, as well as Aniya Warren, was stuck on the depth chart behind a true freshman (last season), and Kristen Simon proved she was going to be the main libero for the future. That sent both Chan and Warren to the portal. Chan landed at Florida State while Warren became a Sooner.
Trinity Shadd-Ceres has transferred to Creighton
Shadd-Ceres proved she can be a powerful and effective outside hitter, but similar to Vajagic, there was nothing guaranteed on the Wisconsin roster. There are just too many elite and talented outside hitters. She is going to be a starter at Creighton.
